Conaway: Trump has three big areas to address starting on Day 1

Published 5:49 pm, Monday, January 16, 2017

U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway has filled a bill calling for an end to the ban on crude oil exports.

U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway has filled a bill calling for an end to the ban on crude oil exports.

Conaway: Trump has three big areas to address starting on Day 1

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Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories about what U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway of Midland foresees for the nation, issues it faces and solutions that could be implemented.

On Friday, President-elect Donald Trump takes over for President Barack Obama, and Trump has indicated that he’ll cut short typically lengthy ceremonial activities and get right to work.

The initiate has Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway of Midland excited, and according to Conaway, Trump’s presidency could mean the arrival of more productive times in the nation’s capital and better times for Americans.

“We’re going to transition from the high expectations, the things he said he would do during his campaign to actually delivering,” Conaway said Monday during a visit to the Reporter-Telegram. “That’s where it’s hard because he’s going to have to meet some high expectations.”

Conaway said there are three main areas Trump will work at in his early days in office. First, there’s that which Trump can do on his own, namely through executive order, which will happen Friday.

“The shortened parade means he’s going to leave the viewing stand at the White House, go right to the Oval Office and start signing executive orders, revoking President (Barack) Obama’s executive orders ... and grab the reins of state right of the bat. We all have high expectations that he’ll move through that low-hanging fruit pretty quickly.”

Second concerns cabinet members. “The next area will be how his nominees — once confirmed and in place — work to stop this avalanche of regulations that have come at us full bore for eight years now, the stuff that can stop, the stuff that can unwind,” Conaway said.

Of perhaps most critical importance is the legislative agenda as part of Trump’s administration. “Whether it’s Obamacare, tax reform — all of those things will require the House and the Senate to join shoulder-to-shoulder with him,” Conaway said, it should be an easy road in the House, but the Senate poses a particular challenge.

“With 241 House Republicans, I’m pretty confident that we can pass center-right solutions that President Trump can use as a way to move the Senate,” the longtime representative said. “The frustration we’ve had the past six years, including the two years that Republicans managed the Senate, is we couldn’t get to 60 votes, we couldn’t get over that threshold.”

Senate votes often require 60 out of 100 votes to pass legislation. Republicans hold 52 seats, and Trump will have to work to get eight Democrats’ votes to avoid gridlock.

Conaway said Trump’s strategy will be going into the states where 25 Democrat senators are up for re-election, 10 of states of which Trump won, and get residents to push their senator to vote to move legislation through. “That’s probably going to be Trump’s greatest contribution to the legislative side: being able to get the Senate off high center,” he said.

Conaway said the negotiation is right up Trump’s alley. “I think President Trump will revel in closing that deal. This is about getting it done, and I’m excited about watching him get after the Senate Democrats.” Plus, the convincing process will show the nation who the “obstructionists” are.

“It’s passing the House, you’ve got a president who’s for it, you’ve, hopefully, got 52 Senate Republicans who are for it, and the Democrats are standing in the way of making this happen,” Conaway said. “I think Trump will spend that political capital to make that happen on a variety of things.”

Conaway said the needs of residents in District 11 are the same as others across the country: “The repeal of Obamacare (because) it’s failing, people are hurting; fundamental tax reform; and Mr. Trump has talked about a wall on the southern border.”

The representative said he doesn’t take the construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico literally. “When I hear him say that, how I translate that in my mind is operational control of the border, knowing who and what are coming and going across our border. That is in America’s best interest. Putting that framework together … would be in the top three that Mr. Trump needs to deal with and engage on.”

Conaway said he hopes he can engage Trump on Medicare and Social Security reform, even though the president-to-be hasn’t been keen on addressing those issues. Something has to be done, however. “We’ve got a limited amount of time left before those trust funds become huge issues. The sooner we institute the changes, renegotiate the Medicare promise, the easier it’s going to be.”